Indie Book Awards 2026
The Awards recognise and celebrate indie booksellers as the number one supporters of Australian authors. What makes indie booksellers uniquely placed to judge and recommend the best Aussie books of the past year, is their incredible passion and knowledge, their contribution to the cultural diversity of the Australian reading public, by recommending beyond the big brands, and above all, their love of quality writing.
The individual category winners in Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non-Fiction, Illustrated Non-Fiction, Children’s and Young Adult were also announced. From these six category winners, the independent booksellers selected the best of the best – The 2026 Indie Book of the Year.
Since the Awards inception, independent booksellers have a well-deserved reputation for picking the best of the best in Australian writing. Past Book of the Year winners have gone on to be bestsellers and win other major literary awards. Previous winners include: Dusk by Robbie Arnott; Killing for Country: A Family Story by David Marr; Love Stories by Trent Dalton; and The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams.
The Winners for the Indie Book Awards 2026 are:
BOOK OF THE YEAR
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Australia)
FICTION
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Australia)
NON-FICTION
Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent (Picador Australia)
DEBUT FICTION
When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin (Hachette Australia)
CHILDREN’S
Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian Children’s Books)
YOUNG ADULT
Eleanor Jones is Playing with Fire by Amy Doak (Penguin Australia).